Jake Lawrence Leads Wire-to-Wire with Smallmouth, Wins MLF Toyota Series at Kentucky and Barkley Lakes Presented by Jenko Fishing

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (April 24, 2023) – Toyota Series pro Jake Lawrence of Paris, Tennessee, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 9 ounces, to lead wire-to-wire and win the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Kentucky and Barkley Lakes Presented by Jenko Fishing and earn the top prize payout of $44,000. Lawrence’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 57-5 earned him the victory by a 1-pound, 6-ounce margin over second-place angler Adam Bartusek of Cokato, Minnesota, who weighed in 15 bass totaling 55-15 to earn $17,000.

Lawrence has fished the lake for years with great success, including a triumph at the 2018 Toyota Series event on Barkley Lake. However, he did something a little different this time, as he primarily targeted smallmouth with the help of his forward-facing sonar.

“This one is special. I know you say that for every win, but that one was on my home turf down by Paris,” Lawrence said. “I knew every nook and cranny down there and felt like that win was 15 years in the making. This one was different because I was doing something totally different, something I’d never done. I don’t know that I’ve ever caught one in the places I’ve fished this week. It was like a brand new lake to me.”

What he was doing was also unique, targeting spawning smallmouth with the help of his Garmin LiveScope and fishing the northern end of the massive fishery.

“This lake is so big that I hardly ever make it up this far,” he said of his areas that roughly stretched from takeoff at Kentucky Dam Marina to Jonathan Creek. “I was catching spawning fish or fish that were staging before or after they spawned, but they were in the same areas. I could tell on LiveScope if the bass were spawning based on how they acted because they’d hang around if they were on a bed.”

One key for his areas was having shallow water with quick access to deeper water. This was true for his smallmouth and the bonus 6-1 largemouth from the first day.

“It seemed like most of the fish were in that 4- to 7-foot range and on flatter banks, but they had to have a secondary creek channel running close to them,” he said. “It couldn’t be a 100-yard flat; everything was a couple of yards away from deeper water in the creek channel. Those fish want to do their deal and then pull back out. That big largemouth I caught the first day was the same thing and was one of the deepest fish I caught all week.”

Lawrence used a tube and a swimbait to catch his fish, with the 3.25-inch Jenko Booty Shaker Swimbait in blueback on a ¼-ounce ball head jig. He caught some fish with the swimbait, but it was mainly a search tool and smallmouth agitator. His tube was a Strike King Coffee Tube in green pumpkin, but he utilized a 1/8-ounce Jenko Trick Tube Jig Head to fish the tube on a “Stupid Rig.”

“The head was really important because rigging it that way doesn’t hang up as much and that jig head has a great hook, so you land more of those fish,” he said. “I’d throw the swimbait on them to get them excited and then if they didn’t bite, I’d turn around and cast the tube in and get them.”

After the win, Lawrence hinted at a run at top-level professional fishing, and this victory may help speed up the process.

“It was already in the works before this, but we still need to hammer out some details,” he said. “This week, I purposely limited my practice to help me prepare for that. Instead of practicing for a week, I only spent two-and-a-half days. I want to push myself to get into that frame of mind. I’m more proud that I could do that than for winning it even.”

The top 10 pros on Kentucky and Barkley lakes finished:

1^st:          Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 15 bass, 57-5, $44,000
2^nd:         Adam Bartusek, Cokato, Minn., 15 bass, 55-15, $17,000
3^rd:         Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 15 bass, 51-1, $12,750
4^th:         Ethan Fields, Breese, Ill., 15 bass, 48-6, $10,750
5^th:         Harbor Lovin, New Concord, Ky., 15 bass, 45-7, $9,750
6^th:         Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 44-10, $9,375
7^th:         Steve Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 44-4, $7,800
8^th:         Matt Stanley, Alexandria, Tenn., 14 bass, 44-1, $6,300
9^th:         Clint Knight, Lewisburg, Ky., 14 bass, 43-12, $5,500
10^th:       Brad Jelinek, Lincoln, Mo., 13 bass, 40-6, $4,200

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Stephen Whitesell of Grove, Oklahoma, won the $500 Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Thursday with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces. On Friday, pro Steve Floyd of Leesburg, Ohio earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass prize with a 6-pound, 10-ounce bass.

Scott Parsons of Rogers, Arkansas, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 34 pounds, 5 ounces. Parsons took home the top co-angler prize of $34,000, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Kentucky and Barkley lakes finished:

1^st:          Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., 13 bass, 34-5, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard + $500
2^nd:         Roger Hughes, Bartlesville, Okla., 12 bass, 29-15, $5,375
3^rd:         Ken Coats, Tulsa, Okla., 15 bass, 26-12, $4,300
4^th:         Carter Wijangco, Napierville, Ill., 15 bass, 26-11, $3,650
5^th:         James Burns, Nancy, Ky., 14 bass, 26-8, $3,150
6^th:         Alan Woodford, Winslow, Ind., 15 bass, 26-0, $2,650
7^th:         Jason Swanson, Waterloo, Iowa, 14 bass, 25-12, $2,150
8^th:         Pop Catalin, Cookeville, Tenn., 13 bass, 24-10, $1,825
9^th:         Jason Sandidge, Centerton, Ark., 12 bass, 24-3, $1,530
10^th:       C.J. Holbrook, Smithville, Miss., 12 bass, 24-3, $1,290

Taylor Surly of Bella Vista, Arkansas, earned Thursday’s $150 Berkley Big Bass award after weighing in a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass, while the Day 2 $150 award went to Mark King of Gurdon, Arkansas, with a 6-pound, 12-ounce bass.

With two regular-season events in the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division now complete, pro Brad Jelinek of Lincoln, Missouri, leads the Plains Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 509 points, while Jason Sandidge of Centerton, Arkansas, leads the Strike King Co-angler Division AOY race with 512 points.

The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Kentucky and Barkley Lakes Presented by Jenko Fishing was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. It was the second of three regular-season events for the Toyota Series Plains Division. The next event for Toyota Series Plains Division anglers will be the Toyota Series at Lake of the Ozarks, Sept. 28-30, in Osage Beach, Missouri. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2024. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Toyota Series include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Black Rifle Coffee Company, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Gill, Grundéns, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Next Gen Lithium, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.

For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.